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Second round of BVT

Hello all,
I am a pretty new beekeeper and have started doing BVT for newly diagnosed arthritis in my left hip along with a bone spur. I am an active person aged 47 and was prescribed Prednesone for this over 2 months ago. I hated the side effects of the medication and will never take it again. After a month of being off of it, I had pain from activity and couldn't even sleep at night because of the pain. I administered two stings two weeks ago and another two stings this week. I have not had any pain at all since then. I will continue to do this as long as I can. I refuse to take medications with all sorts of side effects when I have a natural remedy right outside. I am looking for someone to give me more advice and also wanting some recommendations to get started doing it for others. Thank you.

Re: Second round of BVT

Hi Pamela,
There are several options for you, and you could really do all three of them. 1. Reach out to beekeepers in your area and see if they know anyone with bvt experience. 2. Join the American Apitherapy Society. 3. EAS will have an Apitherapy day this August. Any and all of these may be helpful to you. There are also some books that come to mind. Bee in Balance and How Well Are You Willing to BEE.
Take care,
Susan

Re: Second round of BVT

People do BVT for pain and a multitude of other issues. One of the things I read was that it would gradually get rid of bone spurs.

There are some really good posts in the Apitherapy portion of Beesource pertaining to doing BVT. It sounds like you are doing it correctly if your pain is controlled.

Where do apitherapists sting? First they test for allergy, then....

1. They sting specific locations of infection, inflamation, pain or area that body needs to be triggered to address.

2. They press along nerve pathways and if it hurts, they sting it. Called trigger spot.

3. They sting areas of scar tissue/surgery scars....one inch apart directly on scar or just along side it.

4. They sting along the spinal column on both sides (or directly on it). Location depends on need but the area extends from at the base of the neck to the tail bone. These areas are covered gradually over a period of time. You either have one line down the center of the spine, each sting site being one inch down from the other one. Or, you have side by side (spine in center) ..........one inch down and one inch apart on both sides of the spine. The spine is a nerve pathway to the areas being treated.

There is a Charles Mraz Apitherapy Course that is offered once a year thru the American Apitherapy Society, I believe. There is also a book Mr. Mraz wrote "Health and the Honeybee". He stung people for more than 60 years. His book is about that.

Re: Second round of BVT

Hi: I do bee stings for people quite offen , an all the above answers are on the money. Try to work yourself up to maybe four stings at a time, an don't drink any alcohol for a few hours after treatment ,it will neutralize the venom effects. Befor I sting I use a copper tube 2" in diag. and about 9" long. and two end caps to close off ends. Put on one end cap an fill with water, when filled apply other cap and put in freezer. When your ready to sting put the end of tube on area to sting for a short time,remove an sting.
After I sting they ask if I did it yet,it works that good. Then put back in freezer till next time. I leave the stinger in for 10 min. befor I remove, or when the white sag attached to stinger stops pumping venom.

Re: Second round of BVT

I can't edit my post, but would like to say that the spinal column continues above the base of the neck to the base of the skull. That spinal area can also be stung.

Now, those doing multiple stings should get themselves a number of reversible tweezers with the fine tip (broad one is clumsy). Squeeze the tweezers to open it, grab the bee by the head or thorax and relax the tweezers. It will hold the bee till the tweezers is squeezed again. Put loaded tweezers upside down in a coffee cup and start using.

We put an ice cube in a plastic sandwich bag to numb the spot. You can make a reuseable bag by putting ice cubes in the bag and using a Food Saver to heat seal it shut. Could probably make you own refreezable ice bags for the cooler, too.

If someone gets stung enough, they will hardly swell or itch. Unless they are allergic that is.